On a 2012 episode of Meet the Press — three years before same-sex marriage became legal nationwide — Biden said he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage, Politico reported.

When asked if his views on same-marriage had evolved — as President Barack Obama's had — Biden reportedly answered:

"I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that"